Everyone has moments of sadness. In most cases, these feelings persist for only hours or days. Up to twenty percent of the people in the world, however, struggle with clinical depression, which causes depression that lasts for weeks, months, or longer. These feelings result in impaired performance in work, family, or social interactions, which can become disabling.

Women who have symptoms of depression after becoming pregnant may be treated for perinatal depression. This illness may develop at any point after a woman becomes pregnant, and up till the baby is a year old. Usually, however, those who encounter this problem after childbirth are diagnosed with postpartum depression.

Perinatal depression or postpartum depression may be caused by several causes. These causes can be physical. For instance, mothers with a personal or family history of severe depression or mental illness are more likely to experience perinatal depression or postpartum depression. Moreover, alterations in hormone levels in postpartum mothers, like decreases in estrogen and progesterone amounts, can cause depression. Postpartum thyroid problems sometimes cause signs of depression such as exhaustion, irritability, and hopelessness.

Often, mental depression is a result of psychological issues. Women may are tired and overwhelmed as they learn to cope with the needs of the new infant. Such feelings are sometimes made worse by a lack of assistance from family, friends, or spouse. Financial issues may also assist in causing postpartum depression.

Perinatal depression and postpartum depression may have serious consequences for both the mother and the new baby. Worry and depression may prevent a mother from bonding fully with her child or being able to meet her baby’s physical and psychological needs. This may worsen the woman’s sense of worthlessness, self-blame, and low self-worth. 

The child is also affected by the new mother's condition. Failure to bond with his or her mother may cause the baby to develop trust issues in emotional relationships throughout life. In addition, infants who do not have their physical or psychological needs met typically do not grow and develop properly. This problem, called "failure to thrive," may be quite harmful or even fatal to the child.

Perinatal depression or postpartum depression can affect the entire family. The spouse or significant other can feel neglected or unable to decrease these depression symptoms. This can severely wound the partnership. Other children in the family may experience similar feelings, and have academic or peer problems as well. 

Depression affects the whole family. For this reason, women who have perinatal depression or postpartum depression should get depression treatment as soon as possible. Many treatments can be used, including counseling and drug therapy. Medications, however, can be dangerous for nursing infants, and may yield erratic results due to the great hormone variations a mother has during these tumultuous months. Moreover, traditional counseling therapies can be time-consuming and costly.

Two techniques for dealing with depression that do not require medicines and often quickly show dramatically beneficial results are hypnotherapy and Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP. Traditional Hypnotherapy is most effective for persons who are easily entranced or are capable of accepting ideas without needing to analyze or comprehend them. Ericksonian hypnosis is very useful for those who tend to overanalyze. These strategies encourage clients to relax and eliminate tension.

For clients who tend to be more critical or analytical individuals, NLP is typically more beneficial. With this technique, trained practitioners give people depression help by coaching them to restructure their mental processes. This approach can, very literally, allow a person think beyond the depressive state and conquer it. 

Clients can conquer depression by learning NLP tools like anchoring. They learn to remember situations when they felt happy and in control of their circumstances. Remembering the event revives these feelings. People are taught to touch two fingers together while experiencing these feelings. The subconscious mind connects the touch of the two fingers with the feelings. Therefore, the finger touch becomes an "anchor."

Then, when the person begins to become overwhelmed, he or she triggers the anchor by putting these same two fingers together again. This elicits feelings of self-control and generates empowerment.

By using another technique known as the Flash, clients learn to think away negative feelings. They teach their subconscious minds to automatically substitute positive thoughts for negative ones. As negative thoughts arise, the mind automatically exchanges them for positive responses. After developing this method, clients find it nearly impossible to think negative thoughts!

Summary: Perinatal depression and postpartum depression often have disastrous results for a mother and her new child. The rest of the family is also profoundly affected because of these conditions. Due to the possible significance of the consequences of this condition, females with depression should get treatment as soon as symptoms begin. Two very beneficial treatments that do not use medicine or huge investments of time and financial resources are hypnotherapy and Neuro-Linguistic Programming.

Alan B. Densky, CH specializes in stress and depression related symptoms as an NGH certified hypnotist. He's helped thousands of clients since 1978. He offers CDs for hypnosis therapy for depression. Visit his Best Hypnosis Downloads for self development site for the hypnosis article repository, or watch his free video hypnosis collection.

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